Thursday, February 9, 2017

Origin of Roman Catholic Church - 37

Continued from previous post -

Gregory the Great: AD 590-604
Gregory I, in the late 6th century, reveals in a similar way the future direction of Rome and of the papacy. It can be seen in two significant events. In 592, two years after his election as pope, the Lombards are at the gates of Rome; Gregory accepts papal responsibility for the city negotiates with the barbarians and persuades them to withdraw (admittedly at the price of an annual tribute). Four years later in 596, he dispatches a mission of forty men to England. Like Gregory himself, until his election as pope, these missionaries were monks. The mission of these monks was to develop in the minds of barbarians the fear for the unknown, which gradually culminate into submission to god. The method proved very successful in England and other places. Second strategy they used is to offer promises to those who have submitted to God of Christianity. This is called indulgence. Promises of great life in heaven and many others those could attract the gullible masses. It was a psychological strategy to win over physically strong but intellectually void vandals and barbarians. Without use of any arms and fights, they slowly put fear in the minds of these strong people, which did the subsequent changes in the mindset of these people. Finally, those monks converted them to Christianity (of Pope and not of Jesus!). This modus operandi Church continued to use in other places also with grand success. Thus, worldly ruler of Rome, using monastic establishments to spread spiritual rule throughout Europe - the pattern for the medieval papacy was established in place.

Some political activity was also seen in favor of Pope Gregory I, II and III,
The Duchy of Rome was a Byzantine district in the Exarchate of Ravenna, ruled by an imperial functionary with the title dux. Within the exarchate, the two chief districts were the country about Ravenna where the Exarch was the centre of Byzantine opposition to the Lombards, and the Duchy of Rome, which embraced the lands of Latium north of the Tiber and of Campania to the south as far as the Garigliano. There the pope himself was the soul of the opposition.
The pains were taken, as long as possible, to retain control of the intervening districts and with them communication over the Apennine mountains. In 728, the Lombard King Liutprand took the Castle of Sutri, on the road to Perugia, but restored it to Pope Gregory II "as a gift to the blessed Apostles Peter and Paul". The popes continued to acknowledge the imperial Government.
In 738, the Lombard duke Transamund of Spoleto captured the Castle of Gallese, which protected the road to Perugia. By a large payment, Pope Gregory III induced the duke to restore the castle to him.

Missions to Frisia and Germany: 690-754
The careers of two great Anglo-Saxon missionaries, Willibrord and Boniface, are an indication of the value to the papacy of two recent successes: - the acceptance of the authority of the pope in England, at the synod of Whitby in 664; and the developing alliance between Rome and the Carolingian rulers of the Frankish kingdoms.

Anglo-Saxon England is the most sophisticated Christian region of "northern Europe". The
Carolingian are the most powerful rulers in the area. Collaboration between English missionaries and Frankish empire-builders is a development eagerly encouraged by Rome. Papal power began to take active interest in the political affairs of European nations to get hold on the people of those nations subsequently to convert them to Papal Christianity. Pope along with religious authority began to hold political authority also over European kings. Popes used god as a tool to spread their authority. As such, no king could challenge it.
Continues in the next post -
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